Improvement in paper-box machines



- 4 4Sheecs$hea'i I. o J. E WILLIAMS.

. PAPER-BOX MACHINE. No. 170,039, Z Patented No v.16,187 5.

lV/Jfl was). 1 11W INJUR.

N-PEIERSA PNOTO-UTHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON D,C.

' 4 SheetsSheet 2.

J. E. WILLIAMS.

PAPER-BOX MACHINE. No. 170,039. Pa.tent ed N'ov.16,1875.

N.PEI'ERS, PHOTO-LITNOGWAPHEN, WASHINGTON. D C.

4 Sheets-Shet 3.

J. E. WILLIAMS. PAPER-BOX MACHINE.-

Patented Nov. 16,1875.

' FIG/0.

W/TNESSES- N.FETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON, 0 C.

' 4-Sheets-Sheet4. J. E. WILLIAMS.

PAPER-BOX MACHINE. No.170,039. Patented Nov.16',1875

MPETEflS. FHOTO-LITHQGRAFHER, WASHlNGTON, DV 6.

UN T ST ES E. WILLIAMS, OF NEW HAVEN,

CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO HIRAM STEVENS, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPRVEMENT N APE -B MAQH ES- Specification forming part of LettersPatent No. 170,039, dated November 16, 1875; application filed To allwhom it may concern: Be it known that I, JOHN E. WILLIAMS, of New Haven,in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have inventedcertain Improvements in Paper-Box Machines, of which the following is aspecification:

'My invention relates to machines for making paper boxes; and consistsin a novel con- 'struction, combination, and arrangement of parts, whichhave for their object to improve the operation of the machine, as willbe fully hereafter set forth.

Figures 1 and 2 are elevations of the two sides of the machine. Fig. 3is a top or plan View. Figs. 4 to 13 are diagrams illustrating theprinciples of action of the machine. Figs. 14 to 18 are detail views.

In this machine the web of paper from which the blanks are cut isintroduced between a pair of rollers, which score and incise the. paperat the proper points and feed it along under a reciprocating knifewhich, after the length of a blank has passed under it,'descends andcuts this blank 01f. To this reciplrocating knife is attached a paste orgum box,

provided underneath with openings, through which the paste or gum isejected, and as the knife descends to sever a blank from the web "ofpaper, the paste-box is carried down until its openings rest on thesucceeding blank and gum it at the required points.

In this machine the boxes are formed on formers of proper shape, whichare secured on a rotating disk or wheel near its periphery,

and are retained on these formers by suitable means until the gum hassufficiently set, to permit of the box being stripped therefrom.

The blank having been guinmed and cut off is seized by reciprocatingnippers, between the jaws of which it had entered, and is by these drawnover an opening or die in the table ofthe machine, which is some largerthan the formers on "the disk or wheel, and

-as the former-wheel is turned a certain dis tance, the former which isnext topass this opening or die descends and presses the paper throughit. As soon as this has been accom-, plished, reciprocating folders areoperated to fold over the flaps of the blank one over the other, and theWheel. rotates again, which brings the box on the former under the operation of the devices for holding its parts togetheruntil it is sufficientlyset "to hold together. This having taken place, the boxis strippedfrom the former by a reciprocating stripper, and is delivered complete Arepresents the frame and table of the machine; B, a shaft, turning inbearingslia and carrying atone extremity the. former-wheel C, and at theother theiratchet-wheel D... .E

is a bar reciprocated in the guide 12,. by means of the cam F on theshaft G,.turning,in bearings c. This barcarries at one extremity-thespring-pawl d, which, as thebar reciprocates, engagesiwith the teeth ofthe ratchet-Wheel D, and rotates the former-wheel C. Theiformer-wheelworks in an opening in the table, and

the formers pass through the square opening or die at H, (as shown inFigs. LtO 'l andin Fig. 16.) I is the driving pinion, which gears withthe two wheels J and K011 theextremity of the shafts G M, one abovetheotherbelow the'table. These shafts carry the cams which produce themotions .in the. severallworkiug parts of the machine. NO are thescoring, incisiug, and feeding rollers, working in the bearings e e, andgeared together ,by the gearwheels f f. To one extremity. of the.1shaft;.0f the lower roller is secureda ratchet-wheel, R, and outsideof this wheel is .securedloosely the mutilated pinion Q, the. upper partof.

which projects to form a bearing, to whichis pivoted a pawl, g, engagingwith theratchet P. Bis a bar working in the bearingsh h, depending fromunderneath. the a table, and having areciprocatingmotion imparted toitby the cams '5 i on the shaft workinglagainst lugs on the side ofthebar. At one extremity of this bar is the rack S, which gears with theteeth on the mutilated pinion Q, and as the bar reciprocates. thispinion is given asemirotary or rockingmotion, and the pawl .g,en-

gaging with the teethof the ratchet-wheel-bn the shaft of. the lowerroller, imparts .to the rollers an intermittent rotary motion,.which isjust sufficient tofeed through paper the length of a blank. The upperrollerN is provided on itssurface with incising-knivesl, andscoring-teeth k, which slit :or ,inciseand score the paper at the properpoints, andvby these slits and scores the lines of, the folds aredetermined, which-renders the corners of .the

'closed-by 'any suitable means. they are shown as operated by comingalterbox sharp, square, and straight. The roll of paper from which themachine is fed, may be supported on any suitable bearings outside of thefeed-rollers. T T are guides or ways along which the paper marked offinto blanks is fed to the cutting and pasting devices. U is areciprocating knife for cutting off the blanks 'of which corresponds inarea and shape to the surface of the blank to be gummed. Through thesespouts or openings the'gum or paste is ejected by a valve, plunger, orother convenient device, operated by the rodsq q 'pivoted to the arms 1"r, to which the rods 8 s are nn-jointed. These valves are kept closed bythe springs t, but as the knife descends to "sever a blank from the webthe rods s 8 come in contact with the guide bars T, and force the rods(1 q down, thus operating the valves or plungers in'the tubes 19, andejecting or squeezingout a sufficient quantity of gum to gum the blanks,as shown at Fig. 15. The form- 'ers X on the wheel 0 are of the size andproportions which it is desired to make the box, and are sufficientlyfar apart to give space and time for the necessary movements of thefolders, nippers, 850., to act between them. The periphery of the wheelvis nicked, as

shown at u, and into these nicks the dog Y, pivoted to the block to,enters to. hold the wheel stationary during the process of fold- 'ingthe blank over the formers. In the drawings the form of the nicks andthe dog is such that the pressure brought on the formerwheel in' turningit is sufficient to throw the dog out of the nick; but in practice thehold-j ing device is operated positively by some'act,

uating part of the machine, as the bar E,

for instance, so as to hold the wheel firmly against all posibiiity ofrotation. The opening or die in the table through which the formers passis sufficiently large to admit of their free passage, allowance beingmade for the thickness of the paper which forms the box, and themovement of the wheel is so regulated that each time it rotates a formeris carried into this opening or die, its upper sur-.

face being flush with or slightly above the -upper surface-of the die oropening. Z is a pair of nippers secured to the bar 3 which reciprocateshorizontally in the guides z z,

and is operated by the cam a on the shaft G. These nippers areoperated-4'. 0., opened and In Fig. 16

nately in contact with the blocks b 0. These nippers receive the blankand draw it over the die or opening in the table and under the formernext to pass into the die.

The folding system consists of six reciprocating folding plates orfingers, four workin g horizontally two to fold the two extremities of.the blank one over the other to form the upper side of the box, and twoto fold in the edge ends of the blanks-and two working vertically tofold the ends of the two sides of the box one over the other to form thebottom of the box.

A B are the horizontally-reciprocating sidefolders, which work in guidesT C, and are operated by the levers d e, which are pivot-ed underneaththe-table, and pin-jointed to the reciprocating bars f h, working abovethe table, which are reciprocated by the cams i j on the shaft G. Thefolding-plate B is elastic,so as to yield as it passes over the former,and thus exert pressure on its edge, where a roller may be provided toobviate friction. To the outer side of the folders A B are secured thefolding-fingers D E, Figs. 8, 9, and 10, which pass over the end of theformer, and act to fold in the edge ends of the box.

F G, Figs. 1, 11, 12, and 13, are the bottom folders, which reciprocatevertically, and pass over the end of the former to fold over the sideends or bottom pieces of the'box. Their construction and operation aresubstantially similar to those of the horizontal folders. The lower one,which forms the last fold, is elastic, to exert pressure on its edge onthe bottom of the box. These vertical bottom folders are reciprocated inthe guides H 'I, one above the other below the table, and are operatedby cams on the shafts G M through the levers J and K. I Y

L is a segmental plate depending from underneath the table. This plateis in a plane parallel with that of the wheel 0, and, as the wheelrotates,'the formers pass close to the inner surface of this plate,there being space between it and their ends of about the thickness ofthe bottom of the box. The plate commences at a point a little below thedie or opening in the table, and continues any desired lenth around thewheel. This plate may be made to perform the function of the bottomvertical folder G by continuing it up to the die or opening,,andproviding its upper edge with a roller, which would press against theformers as the wheel rotated. This plate acts to keep the bottom of thebox together until the gum has dried sufiiciently by exertingacontinuous pressure on it whileit is passing against it.

M M are presser-arms pivoted to the plate L; and M are spring-fingersprojecting from the upper extremities of these arms, which in theirnormal position press against the side ofthe formers X X.

M are inclines or cams formed at the lower ends of the presser-arms,against which as the wheel is rotated the formers act so as to throw outthe arms and permit the formers to pass the presser-fingers, which theyhaving done the formers -move off the inclines, and

the springs throw the arms back in their notmal position and the fingersover the formers; thus the side of the box is kept pressed down untilthe gum has dried sufiiciently.

There may be any number of these pressing arms and fingers to correspondwith the formers.

N N is the stripping device for removing the dried boxes from theformers. It consists of a bar or lever carrying at its lower extremitythe spring fingers or catches N which straddle the former; and as thebar is operated in the direction shown by the arrow in Fig. 18 they passover the box and catch behind its top edge, and on an outward motionbeing given to them they strip or draw the box 011' the former.

The"stripping-bar and fingers are operated by the bar y, to which it ispivoted, as shown at Fig. 17.

The machine being constructed and arranged as above described Willoperate as follows: The paper is fed from a continuous roll through thescoring, incising, and feeding rollers, and is there scored andincisedor slit at the proper points to form blanks. It is then fed alongunder the paste-box until its edge reaches the edge of the knife U,which then descends, carrying the paste-box down on the blank, andgumming it at the proper points, as shown at Fig. 15. The knife andpaste-box then ascend and the feed-rolls are again operated, feedingthrough another blank, and introducing the one just gummed into thenippers Z, which advance and close upon it. The knife and paste nowdescend again, and the knife severs the blank from the preceding one.The nippers then recede and draw the blank into place over the die oropening in the table, and then open, leaving it free to be.

operated upon by the former, which is next to pass into the die. Thewheel is now rotated, and the former descends, carrying the blank intothe die, as shown at Figs. 5 and 8. The wheel is then looked in place bythe dog Y, and the folders A D advance, folding one side and the edgeend of the blank over the former and as soon as they commence to recedethe opposite folders B E advance, as in Figs. 6 and 9, and fold theother side over and above the side folded by the preceding folder, andalso fold in the edge end of the blank, as seen at Figs. 7 and 10.

The moment these folds have been accomplished the bottom of the box isfolded up by the vertical folders F G, the upper one descending, and, asit commences to recede, the lower one following it up and folding thebottom fold over the top.

The box is now completely formed, and, the folders having all resumedtheir normal positions, another blank is delivered to the nippers andsevered from the succeeding one. The wheel is then unlocked androtaterLas before, which carries the box on the former to the retainingdevices. Its bottom is retained in place by the segmental plate L, whilethe resser-fingers M M press down its side and retain it until the gumhas sufficiently set. Thus the operation is continued until the perfectbox arrives at the stripper N N By this time the gum or glue hassufficiently set and the stripper is operated to straddle the box, andits fingers, catching behind the edges of the box, draw the box from theformer.

The machine is capable of various modifications, and the motions mayvary considerably, in practice, from those shown or described.

I have aimed in this description, not at a minute enumeration of detail,but at a clear exposition of the principles of the machine and themanner of its operation, and have shown in the drawings an embodiment ofthese principles in a working machine.

One modification of this invention might be in constructing the machinedouble-that is, in duplicating the parts on the opposite side of theformer-wheel, so as to make the boxes on the formers on one side of thewheel, and the covers on the formers on the other.

I claim- 1. The combination, with the formers X X, of the presser-arms Mhaving the incline or cam M formed thereon, constructed and operatingsubstantially in the manner described and specified. I

2. The combination, with a reciprocating paste-box, of the pasting-tubesp 10, through which the gum or paste is ejected by a pumpin g or valvemechanism, operated by the descent of the box, constructed and operatingsubstantially in the manner described and specified.

3. The reciprocating nippers Z, in combination with the reciprocatingpaste-box and knife, constructed and operating substantially in themanner described and specified.

4. The combination, in a paper-box ma chine, of a series of formers, X,a die, H, through which these formers pass, a series of folders,and asystem of devices for retaining the boxes in shape on the formers whiledrying, constructed and operating substantially in the manner describedand specified.

5. The combination, in a paper-box machine, of aseries of formers, X, adie, H, through which these formers pass, a series: of folders, a systemof devices for retaining the boxes in shape on the formers while thepaste or gum is drying, and a device for stripping the boxes from theformers, constructed and operating substantially in the manner describedand specified.

6. The combination of a pair of incising, scoring, and feeding rollers,a reciprocating knife and paste-box, a pair of nippers, a se ries offormers, a die through which these formers pass, a series of folders, asystem of retaining devices, and a stripping device, constructed andoperating substantially in the manner described and specified.

Witnesses: JOHN E. WILLIAMS.

E. H. J onNsoN, WM. F. LETT-

